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The human orbitofrontal cortex monitors outcomes even when no reward is at stake
Armin Schnider1, Valerie Treyer, Alfred Buck
1Department of Rehabilitation, University Hospital, CH-1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland. armin.schnider@hcuge.ch
Neuropsychologia
|February 15, 2005
Summary
The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is a generic outcome monitoring system, not just for rewards. This brain region shows activation during anticipation and outcome processing, even without explicit rewards.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is traditionally linked to processing anticipated rewards.
- Clinical evidence suggests the OFC may function as a broader outcome monitoring system, independent of reward value.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of the OFC in outcome monitoring, irrespective of explicit reward.
- To determine if OFC activation patterns differ based on outcome uncertainty.
Main Methods:
- Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to measure brain activity in healthy human subjects.
- Participants performed prediction tasks involving varying levels of outcome uncertainty, without performance feedback or reward.
Main Results:
- The left anterior medial OFC showed activation across all conditions, suggesting a role in basic anticipation.
- The left posterior OFC activated with outcome uncertainty, indicating a role in monitoring.
- The right medial OFC was activated during guessing, highlighting its role in hypothesis generation.
Conclusions:
- The human OFC plays a generic role in hypothesis generation and outcome processing.
- OFC function extends beyond reward processing to general outcome monitoring, with some topical specificity.